Why Ellie Moreno Brown Lost

It was close, damn close. 90 votes separated the two candidates for JP. There’s no way to fault our candidate. Ellie Brown ran a brilliant, tireless campaign steeped in commitments and community values most of us embrace.

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Ellie posted her “concession speech” on Facebook.

Good Morning Everyone:

The Primary Election did not bring positive results. With that, I will continue to serve as your Justice of the Peace until December 31, 2026. My career with Pinal County started in 1991 in Oracle and closes there as well. Couldn’t ask for more. Thank you all for the support and votes. Over and out for now.

Judge Ellie Brown.

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Many Oracle residents took Ellie Brown’s loss personally, Kaz and I among them. Because the final numbers with 100% of precincts reporting show she was defeated by 90 votes. Where those votes came from speak for themselves.

My first reaction was upset: at SaddleBrooke and Eagle Crest voters who delivered big time for Nancy Discher.

“Clueless in their bubbles,” I thought.

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Outside those bubbles Oracle along with the rest of the Copper Corridor and even SaddleBrooke Ranch (SR) went for Ellie - Oracle overwhelmingly, SR just barely. The rest of the Copper Corridor was solidly for Ellie.

Her deep bi-partisan support in Oracle was no surprise because we know, love and respect her here in town. Ditto support up and down the Copper Corridor.

The SaddleBrooke Ranch vote was notable because conventional thinking would have it that the mostly affluent, older white population there would go for a candidate from a mostly affluent older, white community (SaddleBrooke). But the vote broke differently between the two Robson HOA’d-up communities.

Maybe Discher’s move to link her candidacy to President Trump and what’s left of the MAGA movement proved decisive in one place and not the other.

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Still, Ellie would have won had a few more Copper Corridor voters turned out to vote in the Republican primary. But asking Democrats and “No Party” folks to vote in that primary was a big ask. That’s what we did along with many others…but it just wasn’t quite enough.